


No Room In Frame

by MelonMass



Series: Six-Eared Macaque and the Ways He Suffers [1]
Category: Monkey King Kids (2010), Xī yóu jì | Journey to the West - Wú Cheng'en
Genre: Coming of Age, Crushes, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Multi, NaNoWriMo, NaNoWriMo 2019, Other, Suicidal Thoughts, Trans Sun Wukong, Wild Teen Parties in Later Chapters, You May Cry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-01-25 21:40:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 18,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21363085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelonMass/pseuds/MelonMass
Summary: Six Ear was just always in his brother's shadow, wasn't he? There just was't any room of him in Wukong's story. He'd always get left behind.
Series: Six-Eared Macaque and the Ways He Suffers [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1540120
Comments: 12
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

> ** I don't know where to begin **

Six Ear was an orphan. He never really knew what happened to his birth parents. Some told him they abandoned him because of his two extra pairs of ears. Others told him they had six ears like him, but they died when he was still a little baby. Either way, they were gone and out of his life. The monkeys of Flower Fruit Mountain were his family now. Particularly the Old Monkey King, who he personally thought of as a grandfather (he would never admit such a thing out loud, however).

The young monkey enjoyed his youngest years there. Truly, his early childhood was not a terrible one. But it was lonely. None of the other monkeys close to his age wanted to play with him. Most of his time was spent with the King or one of the generals. It was fine, but lonely. The King was a tired man, sleeping a lot of the time. And the generals were not the best at looking after children, to put it lightly. But then there was that weird rock on top of the mountain.

The rock was no ordinary rock. Anyone could tell that. Six Ear knew that any day it would transform into... something. He didn't quite know, but he kept hearing that it could transform at any moment. Six Ear was so excited to see what it would become. Maybe a new friend! One that that wouldn't avoid him because they thought six was and odd amount of ears to have. Oh, how amazing it was that out of that rock came a monkey around his age! And one that saved him not even a full minute later!

Everyone else seemed wary of the Stone Monkey, but not Six Ear. He was ecstatic to officially introduce himself to the kid that saved his life! He just had to convince the monkey to come back to meet the king. Not too hard, right? Why would it be hard? It's the king! Who wouldn't want to see the king?

Six Ear found the Stone Monkey investigating their own reflection. As he walked up, he could see the different faces the other monkey made through the reflection in the water. After a moment, Stone Monkey noticed Six Ear was there. They turned around and stared at him for a moment. Six Eared smiled at them. They smiled back. Were they... mirroring him?

Six Ear tilted his head, and they did the same. He scratched his head, and Stone Monkey did the same. Was this a game? Seemed like a fun game! Six Ear took some steps backwards, and Stone Monkey did the same. He wondered if they would fall backwards into the lake. He stopped before that could happen. The young monkey didn't want to be mean to his new friend.

Six Ear turned to the side and walked a few steps. He stayed there for a moment, wondering if Stone Monkey was still copying his movements. He turned around quickly, but they were gone. Flown somewhere up in the trees. Where did they go? The young monkey walks through the trees, looking for them.

"Heeeey!" he called out. "You saved my life! I wanted to say thank you!"

He gets a response in the form of a fruit to the back of his head. Six Ear turns around to find his new friend laughing. He runs after them as they run away. Stone Monkey keeps escaping into the trees and out of sight, only to reappear behind him moments later. A new game. Also a fun one! Six Ear tried to surprise the other monkey and find them before their laughter revealed themselves.

There was a rustling in the bushes. Was it them? He took a few steps towards the sound. Six Ear felt growing excitement that he'd surprised his new friend. He was about to say something like "I've found you!" but the noise revealed itself _ not _ to be any monkey. It was a demon. One of the Monstrous King of Havoc's minions. Six Ear ran away. He jumped and reached for vines to swing from. He must have grabbed a bad vine. It snapped under his weight.

The young monkey crashed into the ground. "Ouch!" He was helpless now. The demon lifted up a net. Oh heavens, at least they didn't plan on killing him. But there was no telling what they'd try to do to him! Six Ear braced himself for the net, for ropes and knots to restrict his movement. But nothing happened.

Six Ear opened his eyes to find Stone Monkey standing there, holding the demon above their head like it was nothing! And they still had that smile on their face, like this was a game, too. The other monkey spun the demon around and around, then threw him off into the distance. The demon flew over the trees and landed right into the river! Both young monkeys laughed as it turned into a rooster and scrambled away.

"We're going to be good friends!" Six Ear said between laughter. "I can tell!"

Stone Monkey responds by putting their hand on his shoulders and laughing some more. Maybe they didn't know how to talk yet? He'd have to teach them, then!

"C'mon!" Six Ear grabs the other's hands and pulls him in the direction of home. "Let me take you back to the others! The king wanted to meet you, ya know!" He made sure to ramble on and on. If he talked enough, then maybe Stone Monkey would figure out how to talk back? That was how it worked for him!

By the time they arrive at the little civilization, the Stone Monkey had said at east some words back to him! Maybe someday they'll get him speaking in full sentences! All of the other monkeys watched from a distance. They were still scared of the Stone Monkey, it seemed. The Stone Monkey squatted down to eye lever of a toddler, and waved. "Hi!"

The toddler screamed and ran off to it's mother. Stone Monkey watched in mild confusion, but only for a moment. They laughed, probably thinking this was another game. They chased after the other monkeys, laughing and shouting. The others run away in fear. They ran around for a while until Stone Monkey got distracted by a rock on the ground. Upon seeing this wide-eyed curiosity, the other monkeys thought it safe to approach. Of course, Stone Monkey jumped up and shouted as soon as they got close.

This was going to go on forever at this point. Six Ear grabbed onto his friend's arm. "C'mon now! You want to meet the king, don't ya?" They looked at him with mild confusion. He pulled Stone Monkey off to where the Old Monkey King's throne room was. The Generals were there, as usual. They were wary of the other young monkey, just like the others, but they had more distrust and disgust in their eyes than fear.

Seriously, what was everyone's problem? Stone Monkey may have come from a rock, but they were still a kid. They were still a monkey. They belonged here just as much as Six Ear belonged here. The generals would get used to it eventually, just like they got used to him. A mean side of him felt relieved that maybe now those guys would have another odd one to nitpick and borderline bully.

The King wasn't napping yet, luckily for them. Though he looked a bit tired, so they might not have a lot of time. Stone Monkey almost immediately waved and yelled, "Hi!" Of course such an informal greeting left the general aghast. The King didn't seem to mind, though. He actually looked quite amused. Stone Monkey skipped up to the throne. "You look _ reeeeaaally _ old. Why are you so old?"

_ That was... two whole sentences. Why didn't they talk like that before on the way here? _

The Old King chuckled. "I've been alive for over a century. I'd be surprised if I _ didn't _ look old at this point." He was being so patient with the young monkey, as was expected. Why couldn't the generals be as patient with just about anybody? The Stone Monkey laughed. "I sure hope I never look so old and tired!"

A comment like that surely cemented the young monkey as a disrespectful troublemaker in the minds of the generals. But the Old King just laughed at the comment. "I hope you won't. Not for a long, _ long _time. You are still young, you needn't worry. I hope everyone's making you feel welcome."

Everyone's still pretty scared of them.

"Uh-huh! It's sooo much fun!"

The Old King smiled. Not too far into the conversation, he fell asleep. Of course. He was tired. Six Ear turned to leave, expected Stone Monkey to follow. They didn't. "Hey! Why'd you get all quiet? Are you asleep?" They waved their arms and shouted. Six Ear tried to run up and stop them from shaking the old man awake. One of the generals stopped him. Maybe they were scared of what the Stone Monkey could do. Maybe they just wanted the Old King to get mad at the Stone Monkey.

"Helloooooo! King? King Grandpa?" The young monkey tugged at the Old King's beard, shouted in his ears, even tried peeling open his eye lids. Eventually, he opened his eyes and let out a big yawn.

"Hm?"

"King Grandpa! Look at this!" Stone Monkey pulled out the shiny blue rock they were looking at earlier. "Do you want it? It's really pretty!"

The Old King took the rock in his hand. He smiled. "Yes. It is a very beautiful stone." Stone Monkey beamed. "Why don't you go practice writing with Six Ear." It was just a suggestion to keep the child busy. The Old King must have been too tired to think of much else. "Have you seen his calligraphy?"

Stone Monkey blinked. "Writing? Calligraphy? What is that?"

Six Ear felt his face start to warm. He didn't like writing that much, nor reading for that matter. The words were always too small or too blurry, so he held the paper almost too close to his face. His penmanship was a mess, but the King always liked it for some reason. He didn't want the Stone Monkey to watch him write. Yet now the generals were ushering the two young monkeys out with some parchment and brushes.

Stone Monkey looked excited, at least. They jumped up and down as they walked to a quiet place to write. They were going to be disappointed. He found a good , flat rock to work at. "So, uh, is there a word you want me to write?"

They tapped their chin and hummed in thought. "What about.... Peach? I like peaches!"

"Alright then." Six Ear laid out his parchment and leaned in to it. Slowly and carefully, he started to work. If he was only writing one word, then he at least could write it large. With it written large, he could lean back far enough for Stone Monkey to see. They watched his work intently. Six Ear felt his face warm with embarrassment

"Let me try!" Stone Monkey grabs a piece of parchment for themself and gets to work copying Six Ear's work. They finish considerably faster than he did, and it looks neater, too. Like they'd done this a thousand times before. But that wasn't possible! Stone Monkey was just born yesterday! "It's not as good as yours, but it's not bad, is it?"

"It- it's fine! Let's- let's write something else! What other word do you want?" Six Ear slammed down another piece of parchment, probably a bit too aggressively. Why was he upset about this? It wasn't that bad a thing, was it? No, Stone Monkey was just catching up fast on all the things they should know by this age. No, not bad in the slightest.


	2. Chapter 2

> ** There's too many things that I can't remember **

It was a common, unspoken belief that Six Ear was a prince. The Old King had taken him in when no one else would. The Generals had a hand in raising him as well. Everyone seemed to believe that whenever the Old Monkey King passed on, Six Ear had a great chance at being the next king. Basically, he was a prince, but not officially. The point he was trying to make here was that he'd never really called the Old King "Grandpa," nor did the man call Six Ear "Grandson." Not out loud at least.

The Generals told him, years ago, people would judge him for using such terms with their King. Things might have been different now that he was no longer a stranger here. Still, the fear was still there. Six Ear would refer to the King as Grandpa only in his head, and nothing more. And then Stone Monkey showed up.

Stone Monkey did not seem to care about what others thought of them. They definitely did not care about angering the Generals. Openly and often, they referred the the Old King as "King Grandpa." Six Ear asked them why once. Why were they able to call him that, without fear. Stone monkey responded with mild confusion.

"You said he was like your grandpa," they said, "so I thought he could kinda be like my grandpa, too."

Six Ear burned with embarrassment. He never should have rambled on to them like that. Of course they would come to a conclusion like that. "I don't think the Generals like it."

"Is that why you never actually call him 'Grandpa?'"

"He's... he's never called me his grandson. I don't know if..." He trailed off. The Old King probably _ wouldn't _ be as mad about it as he'd always feared. He never was upset when _ Stone Monkey _ referred to him as such. Maybe he could...

"He hasn't?" Stone Monkey titled his head. "Are you sure? Wait, he hasn't called _ ME _ 'grandson!' Should he be?"

"If I may be honest, I don't know whether you'd be called grandson or granddaughter."

Stone Monkey makes a disgusted noise. "No offense to girls, but I do NOT want to be called one. I want to be called a boy like you!"

"Okay." Six Ear didn't quite expect the conversation to go this way. He's not exactly sure what he should say on the matter.

"Is that something I should be telling people? Can people not just know without me telling them?"

Six Ear shrugged. "Some people don't like the assume."

"Yeah, well..." Stone Monkey trailed off. _ He _was usually quite the chatterbox. Weird that he just stopped. It was almost worrying. Maybe it was time for Six Ear to shift the subject?

"You, uh..."

Stone Monkey stood up abruptly. "I have to go do something! I'll be back!" He rushed off. Well, that was odd. Should... should Six Ear go after him? No. It was probably fine. He could do something else while he waited for his friend to come back. The young monkey decided to take a nap. He was tired, after all. But, of course, some neighboring demon king and his minions thought this was the perfect opportunity to kidnap the boy.

Six Ear woke up bound by ropes. He tried to scream out, but he barely got a sound out before his mouth was gagged with cloth. They put him in a wooden cage and took him back to their camp. He listened in on conversations between the demons. From what he could hear, they planned on using him as a hostage. A hostage? Him? Huh. Seemed even they thought he was basically a prince.

The young monkey didn't expect to be rescued anytime soon. Especially not by the king himself. He also couldn't figure out a way to escape on his own just yet. He'd probably be here for a while. That'd give him plenty of time to think of how to escape from here. "Pst!"

Six Ear jolted. What was that? Did he imagine that? "Psssst!" He looked up, and saw Stone Monkey in a tree above him. "I'm here to get you out!" He whispered harshly. Stone Monkey silently dropped down when the guards weren't looking. He untied Six Ears ropes and removed the gag in his mouth.

"What are you doing here?"

"I told you! I'm rescuing you!"

"I know but-"

One of the guards came back. Stone Monkey hid while Six Ear put his hands behind his back as if they were still tied. The large wolf demon walked right up to the cage. "It is so odd that no one has come for you yet," it mocked. "I thought you were supposed to be important! Guess the boss was wrong, huh?"

_ One good hit. Just one good hit with his unbound limbs, and he'd be out of the cage. _

"Maybe they're happy to loose you and your weird ears! I mean, how does that even happen?"

Six Ear jumped up and smashed through the ceiling of the cage. The demon stumbled back. Other demons turned to see now two young monkeys, both free from any cage or bondage. Speaking of... "I thought you were going to stay hidden!"

"No way! I wanna beat these guys up for just taking you like that!"

"Are you crazy!" Six Ear grabbed onto Stone Monkey's arm and dragged him off through the trees. "We have to run, you idiot!"

They ran off together in the general direction of home. Hopefully, they could out run their pursuers. It wasn't all that far! A demon jumped out into the path in front of the young monkeys. Stone Monkey didn't hesitate to punch the demon and get its weapon out of its hands. Six Ear hit another demon that tried to stop them. This was a really _ really _ dumb idea on Stone Monkey's part. What was he expecting?

For a while, it seemed they were fighting them off pretty well. But then just one slip up, one misstep, and they were both on the ground surrounded by demons pointing weapons at them. Well, some rescue this turned out to be. The king of these demons laughed at them. "What were you expecting to get out of that?" he laughed. "Oh, I should be thanking you! Now we have _ both _ of you here as hostages! All the better to lure out the old king of yours!"

Stone Monkey stood up and made a fighting pose. Six Ear got up and did the same, trying his best to look not nearly a scared as he felt. Apparently, this show of courage was absolutely hilarious to the demons. They just laughed at the two young monkeys. This couldn't be good. No way just the two of them could take on all of these guys! Maybe they could find an opening and-

Stone Monkey jumped at the demon king and yanked at his nose hairs. What? WHAT? WHAT WAS HE DOING!?! The young monkey freed a few nose hairs after quote a bit of tugging. He laughed and blew the hairs out into the wind. Six Ear didn't laugh himself, but he did smile. It might have been just a bit funny, he'd admit. One or two of demons laughed as well. _ What loyal troops that wicked king must have. _

The demon king growled. He picked up his sword and raised it over his head. Six Ear was sure they were going to die. After all, they didn't have anything to block the hit with. He closed his eyes, ready to feel the sword's blade. But it didn't come. All that happened was a clang of the sword hitting _ something. _ Cautiously, Six Ear opened his eyes.

It was the Old Monkey King! He blocked the hit with his staff! The young monkey couldn't believe his own eyes! "FINALLY" the demon king shouted. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to arrive? I've waited since the sun was at it's highest, and now the sun has completely left the sky!"

Six Ear winced at that. It _ had _ been several hours that he'd been in that cage. The Old King gives the demon king a hard glare. "You will leave my grandsons out of whatever feud you've decided we have!"

Did... did Six Ear hear that right? Did... did the king really just call them his grandsons? As in, Six Ear and Stone Monkey? Both of them? His grandson? For real and actually? Was this real? Did Six Ear fall asleep while waiting in that cage?

The demon king drew back his sword and swung at the Old King. The old monkey blocked it again. He turned his head towards the two young monkeys still standing there. "You two! Run back to the village! Get yourselves to safety! I'll handle this!"

"Yes, y-"

"No way!" Stone Monkey shouted. "We can help! Right, Six?"

"Y-yeah!" He tried to sound much more confident than he really felt. He didn't believe they could actually take on all of these demons, but dammit he was sure as hell going to try! "We can do this!"

The two young monkeys fought the army of demons while their grandfather fought with the demon king. Somehow, it felt like an easier fight than before. Six Ear managed to knock down one or two demons without a weapon. "Six!" Stone Monkey called out and tossed a weapon from a demon to him. Six Ear caught it and used it to block a hit from another demon. The two young monkeys fought well together, jumping in whenever the other was having trouble.

_ We're just buying time. _ Six Ear told himself this every time he started to doubt they'd make it out of this. _ We're just buying time until the Generals and their troops come in. _ Surely, the whole monkey army would come with the king himself here fighting! It wouldn't be too long now. A whole army would be here to back then up.

A demon managed to blind side Six Ear. He was knocked back to the ground. He heard the Old King call out for him. Stone Monkey jumped between the young monkey and the demon. He took over fighting while Six Ear got himself back up. He could hear the battle cries of the monkey army. Yes! Finally! Now they were saved!

All of the monkeys managed to scare away the army of demons. The demon king swore he would be back to fight another day. Now, they all walked back home. "Sorry I took so long." Stone Monkey apologized. "Those Generals didn't want to send a whole army, for some reason." He laughed. "Guess they sorta did anyway!"

"Why, though..."

"Hm?"

"Why _ would _ they want to send the whole army for _ me? _ I'm not that important."

"What are you talking about! Grandpa definitely thinks you're important enough!"

Was he though? Was he really? The generals made sure to scold Six Ear for getting captured so easily. They went on and on about how risky it was to rescue him. They made him feel so ashamed. But that was quickly eliminated by the way the King pat his head and told him he fought really well. it made him really happy to hear.


	3. Chapter 3

> **They disappeared like a trend**

Stone monkey made a remarkable amount of friends. Six Ear didn't know there were ever so many other spirits their age even near Flower Fruit Mountain. Well, he never really thought of making friends with anything other than monkeys before. This Jade Rabbit girl made him wary for a good long while. She had such a human-looking appearance. Except for her ears. Ear which she was embarrassed about for a while.

She was embarrassed by her _ ears _. Seriously? That didn't make any sense to Six Ear. He had SIX FRICKIN' EARS! If anyone would be embarrassed about their ears, it would be him. When he told her this, she just smacked him upside the head and stormed off. Six Ear just didn't understand her. Why did Stone Monkey like hanging out with her?

Then there was this demon prince, not connected to the demon king feuding with their grandfather. The prince preferred to be called "Bull Prince." He was large and bulky. Six Ear felt almost terrified of him, but Stone Monkey _ really _ enjoyed his company. Well, Six Ear thought he couldn't be much worse than that Jade Rabbit, so he thought he'd give the guy a chance.

"So..." Six Ear said, "You're the Bull Prince that Stone Monkey like to hang out with."

"Yep. And your the brother he likes to talk about."

Wait. "He calls me his brother?"

"Oh, yeah. I think he said you were kinda weird about that stuff, though."

Six Ear opened his mouth to argue on that, but then shut it. He thought of how things were after Grandpa first called them his grandsons. Six Ear had felt airy and excited and weird and strange for weeks. It felt like things should have been very different, like it was a huge major change, but it also felt like things barely changed. Then there was that feeling wondering why things weren't changing, and... Yeah, okay, so he was kinda weird about the family stuff.

"Yeah, okay. But I still would have kinda liked to know..."

"Maybe if you don't tell him you know, and call him your brother to his face." Bull Prince pat him on the back hard enough to almost knock him over. "He won't think you'll be weird about it then!"

"But..." This guy was too much. Six Ear took it back. He think he would have preferred to spend time with Jade Rabbit. "I... I don't know..."

"Why are you so shy and anxious? Live a little! There's plenty of time to be anxious when we're older!"

"You know, I think I just remembered. I have a... thing I need to do. I should... totally go like far away that way. I'm totally sorry to just leave you like this!" Six Ear dashed off through the trees. He needed some space from all this social interaction. That was why he had his own little hiding spot. No one knew about it. Actually, Grandpa and Stone Monkey might know about it, but they've never actually gone into it.

Six Ear stopped his running once he reached his little clearing. He knew he was there because of The Tree. The Tree had been struck with lightning once upon a time, and it was left with a huge crack that lead into a hug whole in the center of the tree. When he was much smaller, he just loved to climb inside. Now, it was a bit difficult to get in, but still possible. It wasn't as spacious in there, either. Still, he loved to climb inside.

Six Ear climbed up into the branches of The Tree. He wouldn't climb inside it for now. He didn't plan on staying here for long. Just a few minutes. The young monkey found a point where two thick branches grew out of roughly the same spot on the tree's trunk. He curled up there and listened close to the sound around him. The sounds of birds and small animals and wind through leaves soothed him like a lullaby.

"Six!" He woke up to the sound of someone calling for him. Huh. When had he fallen asleep. Not that it mattered. Six ear stretched out his limbs and yawned. "Six! Where did you run off to!" Based on that voice, it was Stone monkey out looking for him. He jumped to a different tree and climbed down. Not that that was the only way to get down. He just didn't want to rusk anyone seeing him and knowing about The Tree.

He walked in the direction of the voice. It didn't take long to come across Stone Monkey. "What is it?"

Stone Monkey jumped and turned to face him. "THERE you are! I was wondering where you went off to! I..." He scratched the back of his head. "I heard Bull Prince told you..."

"That's not why I ran off," He interrupted. "It wasn't that. I just wanted a break from talking."

"Well... still!" Stone Monkey huffed and kicked up some dirt. "You know it doesn't change much, right? We're already family! It's just putting a more specific label to it!"

"Yeah. Alright." Six Ear shrugged. "It's fine."

"So you're... fine."

"Yeah! I already told you!"

Stone Monkey breathed a sigh of relief. "Good! Now, dear brother of mine, would you care to join me in a game?" He bounced a ball crafted out of vines and leaves. I made a goal for it already back closer to home!"

Six Ear shrugged. "Sure! Why not!" The pair of brothers walked back through the trees. Six Ear didn't know the name of the game, or if it had one. The basics of it was trying to be the one to get the ball through a hoop set up in a tree. If the other person had the ball, you were supposed to try and get it back with your feet or back it from getting through the hoop with your hands. It would be a fun game, if he could just score a point.

It was nearly impossible to get the ball away from Stone Monkey. He moved quickly with great agility. Six Ear could barely keep up. And forget about blocking the ball. It always slipped just past his fingers. The more his brother scored, the angrier he got about this game. Finally he get the ball. Yes! He guarded it from Stone Monkey. No way was he giving it up now! Six Ear kicked the ball as hard as he could. It sailed to the hoop, and... Stone Monkey caught it.

"Damn it!" he cursed under his breath. Stone Monkey jumped up and down, cheering. Six Ear stomped his foot and huffed. "I'm done with this game!" His brother laughed and flopped down on the grass. Six Ear sighed. Well, at least he was enjoying himself. "Yeah, yeah. You win."

Two of the generals marched right over to the two of them. They looked a but angry. _ Uh oh. _They stomp over to where Stone Monkey is lying in the grass. "What do you think you're doing? There are things to be done! And you're playing a game!"

"And you aren't even playing it fairly! You can't even allow the other person to win! No one likes playing games with someone they know they can't win against!"

Six Ear sighed. These guys just could not stop. They were actually going harder on Stone Monkey than they ever did on Six Ear.

"You need to be disciplined! If not, then who knows what you'll do when you're grown. Heck, you might even try to take down the heavens like a complete fool!"

Stone Monkey shouted. "Why can't you guys leave me alone!" he jumped up and ran. He grabbed onto his brother and pulled the other young monkey along with him. "C'mon!" The two of them run off through the trees, away from the Generals' shouting. Six Ear just knew that there would be hell to pay later. Unless maybe if they went to Grandpa. He might convince the Generals to go easy on them.

They made it to the river, specifically a quiet, lonely part of the river. Six Ear panted and heaved, trying to catch his breath again. They wouldn't find Grandpa here. "What even is their problem!" his brother complained. "Why play a game and try to lose? And why would be need to work so badly! We're still children! Children are meant to play and have fun? And learn to, I guess, but not the point!"

"I... I think they just... They don't want us... to grow to be... criminals."

"If I can't have fun with anything, I might as well become a criminal!"

"You two shouldn't talk like that." Both brothers jumped in surprise. Oh. It was just Jade Rabbit. Nothing to really worry about. "What would people think if they heard you say that! They'd only wish you to be raised much more strictly!"

"But why!" Stone Monkey whined. "Those dumb Generals are strict enough! Grandpa's much better! He doesn't scold anyone for just having fun!"

"I don't think I've ever heard him scold _ anyone _. The best parenting includes scolding!"

"That sounds absolutely terrible! Doesn't it, Six?" Both of them turned towards Six Ear. Well, he didn't know how to answer that!

"What would I know about raising children? I haven't got any! _ I'm _ still a child! I don't think any of us are old enough to know what we're talking about!" Six Ear scratched the back of his neck. It was oddly itchy.

Jade Rabbit stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips. "If you're never scolded, you will never learn to follow rules!"

"Scolding does nothing!" Stone Monkey shouted at her. "Scolding just makes you get good at lying and sneaking!"

Six Ear decided to slip out of this. This wasn't a discussion he had an involvement in. It's not like they noticed him leaving anyway. He was so forgettable these days. Hardly anyone noticed him anymore.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: I guess technically mild child abuse in this one. I mean, the guy causes SOME pain.

> **In the hum of the five in the early morning**

Six Ear was frustrated. It was basically official now. Stone Monkey would be Grandpa's successor. Not only that, but the other young monkey planned to go on the wild quest of immortality. And everyone was okay with it! Why!?! Six Ear was capable of stuff! And he was getting closer and closer to starting his teen years! Then why didn't he go off traveling as well?

Well, Six Ear would, but... See, the thing was, Flower Fruit Mountain was on this island. An island surrounded by ocean. Six Ear had a strange uneasiness about the sea. Or any body of water, for that matter. It was odd. Irrational. And he just absolutely hated it. So he was going to be virtually alone for the start of his teens. Sure, he'd have his "friends," but really they were Stone Monkey's friends. Did Six Ear have anybody for himself?

He kicked a pebble in his path. If only he had a teacher here. Maybe he could learn somethings of his own. Heavens know Jade wouldn't give up any secrets to immortality. Not after she refused to for his brother. If only...

"What are you doing wondering out around here, child?"

Six Ear jumped. He'd never heard that voice before. The young monkey spun around to see a man he'd never seen before. The man reminded of some kind of animal, but he had these large antlers growing out of his head. "Who... who are you? I've never seen someone like you before."

The man chuckled. "Oh, child! I am an immortal spirit." An immortal spirit? Here? And it isn't Jade or her mother figure? "Now that I have told you who I am, pray tell, child, who are you?"

"I... I'm a monkey prince." Six Ear felt uneasy about this man, but he felt uneasy about most people. There probably wasn't actually anything wrong with him.

"Ah! A prince!" The man stroked his beard. "You know, I have been searching for someone to pass on my teachings to. Perhaps a prince would make a great student."

"Oh, I uh..." Wasn't this a bit too convenient? He was hoping for a teacher to show up so he wouldn't need to leave the island, and then this guy shows up out of nowhere, offering to be his teacher? Maybe it was luck! He finally has good luck! "I... I could learn somethings..."

"Ah! Do you need a demonstration? If so, then I will gladly give it!" The man waved his hands around. A ball of colorful light. Another wave of his hands, the light was a ribbon swirling through the air. Six watched it with such amazement. The man then shouted, and the light wrapped around the young monkey like a rope. He was pulled down to his hands and knees, and the light dissipated.

"Oh, forgive me. I thought a prince such as yourself wouldn't be thrown off his balance by such a trick."

Six pulled himself up onto his feet "Could you teach me? Please, please be my teacher!"

The man chuckled. "My, my. Look at those ears of yours." The man gently touched Six's ears. The young monkey flinched and shivered, but the man seemed to pay no mind. "I would presume one could hear remarkable well!"

"I, uh, not all too much."

"Oh! But surely!" The man stepped away from the boy. "I saw some people on my way here! Listen well to see if you can here them!"

"I..." Six took a deep breath. "I'll try..." He strained his ears to hear something, _anything. _He _could_ hear a distant sound sound of a conversation. He couldn't tell who were talking, are what they were talking about, though. "I... I can _kinda_ hear something..."

"Hmm. Perhaps you would like a bit of magic to help you?"

"Magic?" Before Six could say no to anything, the man waved his arm, and a ball of light hit the young monkey in the back. _Pain._ A searing pain surged through his body. A pain to strong and intense. He screamed, though he tried not to. He didn't want the man to think he was too weak to handle magic. He didn't want anyone to come looking for him right now. It felt like his body change, and possibly his ears grew just a bit bigger.

Then, the pain was mostly gone. Six fell down to his hands and knees. He panted and gasped for breath. "There. Now, tell me child, can you hear better?"

He listened carefully to the world around him. It took minimal effort for him to pick up on the faint conversation he heard before. Except now it was far more clear than it was before. He could tell now it was his brother and Grandpa, talking to each other. "I can hear them! they're talking about the journey my brother is about to go on!"

"Excellent! Now, what exactly are they saying?"

He focused on the conversation. He could hear his grandfather's voice. _"Child, are you certain this is a good time for you to be leaving?"_

_"But Grandpa! If I don't leave now, I may never leave! And I won't be gone forever! You know that!"_

Six could hear Grandpa chuckle. _"Do try not to be gone for too long._ _We all will miss you __here."_

Rage boiled by inside of him. "Grandpa is telling my brother that everyone will miss him when he's gone." That wasn't true. At least two out of the four generals were going to be happy to see him gone. Grandpa made it sound like things wouldn't function right without him. What, like things were that bad when Six was the only child his age around here?

"Hmm. Your brother is leaving? When is that?"

"Sorta soon, I think."

"Listen, child."

_"You must leave tomorrow?"_

_"Yeah! I can't imagine leaving later! I'm too anxious!"_

_"How soon tomorrow will you leave?"_

_"Hmm. I think about midday? I want to be sure the little raft I'm making will take me far enough!"_

"He's leaving tomorrow. Probably somewhere in the afternoon."

"Hmm. Good good."

Grandpa chuckled with such a great fondness. _"Oh, my dear child. You will do great things one day. I just know it."_

Six grit his teeth. "I think I should be honest with you, sir. Grandpa seems to think my brother will make a better king than I."

"Oh?" The antlered man stroked his beard. "Well, after what I teach you, you will prove to be the better king."

"You... you can make me the king someday?"

"Of course. But first, see if you can convince your brother to stay away for a long while. The longer he's gone, the better."

"Why? How will it help?"

"While he is gone, he will be remembered as what he was before he left. Even if he improves while he's gone, no one will know by how much until he comes back. You will be here, improving before their eyes."

"So... it will look like I'm getting much better than him?"

"Yes. Now, you should go now."

"Um... sir?" Six shifted his weight from foot to foot. "I... never got your name..."

"My name does not matter. You will know me as Master from this day forward."

Six smiled. "Yes, Master!"

"Good. Now, I have one more thing to ask of you." Master's voice went dark and serious. "Please do not tell anyone about me. If they know about me, it spoil everything."

Six felt uneasy again. "Yes, Master. None will know of you. I'll be sure of it."

Master smiled. "Good. Run along now. You can find me again by following this river up to a small water fall. There will be a small cave nearby, and I'll be expecting you by sunset tomorrow."

"I'll be there, Master! I promise I won't be late!" Six waved goodbye and ran off in the direction of home.

He found that he heard people calling his name much sooner than he normally would have. "Six Ear! Where are you hiding! It is late! Six Ear!"

"What if we don't find him? It is much too dangerous for him to be out this late!"

He wasn't helpless! He could handle being out much later than this! They were underestimating him!

"You best hope we find him! His brother won't leave if his brother is missing! And there is no way we can bring order back with him still here! The boy brought chaos the moment he came out of that magic stone!"

Six always hated hearing the Generals gossiping. Thankfully, he was close enough now to be seen and heard. "I'm over hear!" He shouted. "Were you calling for me?"

The two generals turned to face him. "Six Ear! Where have you been? It's so late, everyone else has already gone home!"

"Everyone except you! Where were you?"

"I was..." He couldn't tell them about his new Master. What else could he tell them. "I was napping! Yes, I took a nap, and I didn't know how much time passed by! I'm really sorry!"

The two Generals considered this for a moment. Six thought that they might see through his lie. "You silly boy! Do you know have everyone's been worried about you?"

Not worried at all, if he had to guess.

"Come along, now! Let's get you to your room so you can get to sleep!"

Of course, he still shared a sleeping space with his brother. I was ridiculous, and Six both hated and liked the situation, oddly enough. Stone Monkey wasn't in his bed yet. In fact, he came in a few minutes after the Generals left, grumbling about how irresponsible the other young monkey was. "Well, well. You were out late."

"Oh, since when are you one to judge?" Stone monkey crawled under his blankets. His bedding was just a few yards away from Six's. "Hey, are you feeling okay? You look... different somehow. I can't put a finger on it..."

Six laughed. "What, are you worried about me? You don't need to worry about me!"

"Well... If you say so..." The two of them sit in silence for a moment or so.

"Hey... you know we'll be okay with out you right?" Stone Monkey doesn't respond, but Six can clearly see he's still awake. "I mean it. I'm positive that even if you left for twenty years, hardly anything would have changed."

"Oh, come on! I'd never be gone for that long!"

"I'm not saying you will! Look, my point is, you shouldn't give up on you quest too soon just because your worried about us. Don't rush through it, anything, either. Take whatever time you need."

"Okay..." Silence filled the air for a few minutes. "Hey, Six?"

"Hm?"

"You'll make sure everything is okay here, right?"

"I'll make sure everything is fine when you get back."

"Thank you, brother."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: Mentions and themes of self harm in this chapter

> **And now I'm taking my time**

Things were... weird after Stone Monkey left. So many people seemed much more interested in what Six was up to. More interested than he was used to. It made it much more difficult to sneak off to see Master. And Master always punished him if he was late. Lessons were hard, and often times painful. But he was getting stronger over these past few months. He just knew it. He was getting stronger, so everyone shouldn't be this worried.

"Six?"

He almost groaned. He was already running late on his own. Why did Jade always have to bother him when he was in a hurry? "Did you need something?"

"Where are you going off to?"

"Somewhere you don't need to know."

Six turned to leave, but Jade marched up right in his way. "No, I think at least someone should know! Where ever it is you run off to all the time, you come back all messy and disheveled."

"What do you get out of worrying about me? Did my brother ask you to keep an eye on me?"

Jade just stared at him long and hard with her hands on her hips. "Is it a puberty thing?"

"What does that even mean!?! Look, I don't really have time for this interrogation." Six lightly shoved her out of the way. He run away before she could try and stop him. Master had a hard punishment waiting for him.

"Perhaps I underestimated your ability to arrive promptly everyday."

"No! No! It's not my fault!" Six begged. "Please! Keep teaching me! Don't stop the lessons! I'll make it on time tomorrow! I promise!"

Master put a hand up to silence the student. "There will be no lesson tomorrow." Six had to suppress a cry. There would be punishment for crying. "Come back the day after, and see if I am here. Do you understand?"

Six nodded. "Yes, Master."

"Good. Now leave. Leave before I decide you aren't worth this generosity."

The student swallowed his tears, stood up, and left. Why did those idiots have to decide ow, all of a sudden, that he was worth this attention? Six was upset. Frustrated. He needed something to take it out on. He scratched to inside of his left wrist with his right hand. The preteen monkey needed to find another way to harm himself. Scratching like this would thin out the fur there, and that made him feel wrong.

There had to be a knife somewhere within the stored weapons. Cuts wouldn't thin out his fur. And no one would ever see the cuts, since most of his forearm was always covered. Six decided he would sneak into the armory as soon as he got back. They wouldn't notice if he was careful enough. He had to be extra careful. Hopefully Jade wouldn't be wondering around after he ran away before. It would really screw with his plans.

Six waited just above the door to the armory. He waited for a good while, listening carefully to the people he heard going in and out. He waited until he knew it was empty, and would be for a while. Silently, he slipped in. It was almost too easy for him to snatch up the blade. Six slipped out of there just a quickly and silently as he slipped in. The blade fit nicely in his pocket. He could always carry it around, and no one would ever know.

The young monkey walked around, thinking of a good place where he could try this. His special tree? No, it was only safe to do within the tree, and that offered much too little space to work. Back in his bed? No, someone could walk in on him all too easily. What about... the beach. Sure it was next to the sea, which was absolutely terrifying, but no one would expect to find him there by himself, right?

Mind made up, Six walked towards the beach. _ Not too close to the water. Not too close to the water. _ He found a nice, large set of boulders in the sand, They were positioned in just the right way as to hide him, as well as block his view of the sea. The monkey sat down in the sand. He removed everything covering his arms. "Alright, Six," He breathed. "You can do this. Just a smile one."

The knife was sharp. It stung, but not in a particularly bad way. In fact, it felt good. Strange, how oddly hypnotizing it was to watch his own blood slowly oozing out. He was careful about where he let it flow. The blood could only stain what he normally covered up. Not that it would have even been a problem. The cuts stopped bleeding rather quickly. Six could cover his arms again, then wash away the dried blood in the bath.

The monkey made over five cuts before he decided it was enough. Six covered his arms back up, made sure he had everything he brought with, and stood to leave. He stopped for a moment to take in the sound of the waves. For how terrified he was of the ocean, the sound of it sure seemed to sooth him. A disturbance in the calm caught his attention. Splashes. Drips.

It was probably just a fish. Six squinted at the sea, just to be sure. He could see... something. Bigger than any fish he'd seen. Is it even a fish at all? He'd heard that dragons lived in the sea. A dragon king was supposedly their neighbor. Six didn't think he wanted to meet those neighbors by himself. He turned and walked away as if he had seen nothing. It probably wasn't trying to get his attention anyway.

He wasn't even that far from the beach before Jade came running up to him. "Where were you?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Somewhere. Do you really expect me to suddenly answer different after months of you asking?"

"Your grandfather has been asking about you!" The rabbit girl crossed her arms. "What would you expect me to tell him when you disappear everyday for hours? Do you plan on giving him the same answer you always give me?"

Shit! "What did he need from me? Did something happen?"

"Oh for the love of- He's _ worried about you _, dummy!" Jade hit him upside the head. "Let's just get you to the king. He'll be relieved that you're back." She grabbed him by the arm and all but dragged him along. Six let her. At least she didn't grab the arm he cut up not too long ago. The rabbit girl brought him to the cave where Grandpa always slept.

"I do not wish to bother him if he's sleeping."

"He's not." Jade stopped outside the cave opening and pushed him in. "I believe he said something about the Generals not bothering you or him there. Just go in and talk with him."

Six felt his shoulders tense. It was serious, wasn't it? Was Grandpa dying? Oh, he really hoped that wasn't the case. But what else could it be? Jade gave him another strong push, and he stumbled forward several steps. Alright, then. He was walking in. "Grandpa?" He called out cautiously. "Jade Rabbit told me you wanted to see me."

"Six Ear!" Grandpa sat on the stone table that usually made his bed. "Dear child, where have you been today? No one knew where to find you."

Six didn't have an answer ready for that. "What did you need me for? Did something happen?"

"Come here, young one. Sit with me." The old monkey pat the spot next to him. Slowly, Six walked over and sat down. "Look at you. Look at how you've grown. Soon enough, you won't be a child anymore."

Every word put Six on edge. Grandpa was dying, wasn't he? "Grandpa, please tell me if there is something bad going on. You still haven't told me why you wanted to see me, and I'm worried."

Grandpa laughed. "Oh, my dear grandson. That is very much like you. You worry so much for those you care about, you get paranoid that anything could be wrong." He pat the top of Six's head. "No, little one. Nothing is wrong with me."

The young monkey breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Then what is it, Grandpa?"

"Six Ear, you do know what's happening tomorrow, right? You know what day it will be?"

"I, uh..." He scratched the back of his neck. "No," he admitted.

Grandpa smiled at him. "Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day you were found! Remember?"

"Ooooh!" The day he was found. The always celebrated the day like it was Six's birthday. Much like the day Stone Monkey come out of the stone as _ his _ birthday. "I forgot! How could I have forgotten!" He'd be thirteen1 Technically a teenager!

The Old King laughed. "Yes, yes! You're growing older." He sighed, his expression thoughtful. "You'll very soon be at that age where you're no longer a child, but not yet an adult."

Six thought for a moment. "Grandpa, is this one of those 'changes your body goes through' talks? Each of the generals each gave me their own version of that talk. I don't think I need another one."

"Oh, no no. I only have one thing on the matter I'd ever wish to say." Grandpa put a hand on Six's shoulder. "You will never be too old to ask for help. You may start to believe that you must handle everything yourself. No one should have to face the world alone."

"I understand, Grandpa." He didn't. "I promise I'll always remember to ask for help! No matter how old I get!" That was a lie. A big, fat lie. Grandpa smiled at him proudly, and Six wanted to cry.

"You'll grow into such a strong, brave man someday. I knew you will!"

Six wanted to so bad to believe that. He really, truthfully did. He wanted his grandfather to be truly proud of the true Six Ear, whoever that turned out to be.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: mentions of self harm and one brief mention of alcohol.

> **Up through coiling through the valley**

The months were filled with storms. The largest storms Six had ever seen. While everyday was not a rainy one, it was rare to see a day where the ground had completely dried after the last rainfall. One of the Generals had gotten lost in a storm. It had been two months, and he was yet to be found. Many believed he might be dead. Six hated storms. He hated these months.

Storms were far too loud for his sensitive ears. The rumble of thunder kept the teen monkey painfully awake throughout the night. He used to hate sleeping alone in lonely silence, but now he missed it so, so much. Nothing he ever tried managed to muffle the sounds. The only nights he slept through were nights without rain. The lack of sleep must have shown. Grandpa kept casting Six these worried glances. No matter. He'd just sleep whenever he could during the day. As long as he could get _ some _ sleep, they wouldn't worry as much.

The knife he once stole had been used many times. It was easier to sneak away if everyone thought he was finding a quiet place to get some much needed sleep. Master only needed his presence every third day. Six slowly changed his usual outfit to cover more and more of his arms. His entire left forearm was covered to all others. He took longer and longer to wash the red out of his fur. This could easily turn into a dangerous habit. He didn't care.

Currently, Six was on the beach, hiding new cuts under cloth. The sand was damp with last night's rain. It clung to his legs and clothes. It would be obvious where he had been. The teen couldn't muster up the effort to care about that. So what. Would anyone actually mind that he went to the beach? Wouldn't they be proud he was getting over his old stupid fear of the ocean?

"Hello?"

Six jumped and spun around in a fighting stance. There was a new person. They stood just a few feet away from him. They had beautiful, shining smooth hair, a fair color he'd never seen in nature. Their skin was covered in light handsome scales. The teen monkey suddenly felt anxious and unsure of himself. "Um, hello?"

"I'm not sure if I'm in the right place. Well, actually, I think I must be in the right place. You look to me like a monkey with six ears."

"Uh, yes. Yeah, I am." Six shifted from foot to foot. "Do you need something from me?"

"No. I don't think I do." The stranger was silent for a few moments, studying him. The teen monkey wasn't sure whether or not he should be speaking now. "I've heard about you from your brother."

Six blinked. "My brother? You know him?"

The stranger smiled. "Yes! We were classmates! He was supposed to be on his way back, but the storms have been keeping him away."

Six wasn't sure what to think of this. He'd had another birthday without his brother not too long ago. "He's been gone for over a year..."

"And he's learned a lot so quickly! Our master was so amazed."

"Does he expect me to tell everyone of this?" He wouldn't. He wasn't just some messenger.

"Actually, he wished to surprise everyone when he came back."

Oh. "But then why did you tell me?"

The stranger hummed and tapped their fingers together. "He thinks I'm only asked my relatives if they could possibly stop the rain for a while. I wanted to see this place for just a moment. The stories Wukong tells of this place peeked my interest."

Wukong? They were just talking about Six's brother. Were they still talking about him? What ever happened to calling him Stone Monkey? "Did he change his name?"

"I suppose so. I never knew what his name used to be, and I always thought it rude to ask."

"Oh..." They stood in complete silence for over a minute.

"I should be asking my relatives about the rain like I promised." They turned to leave, but turned back again to wave goodbye. "Do you think you could keep my coming here a secret?"

"Of course!" Six answered almost too quickly. "I wasn't going to tell anyone anyway!"

They smiled at him. "Thank you! I'll introduce myself properly when I come back with your brother!"

"I'll look forward to it." And he did. Six was very much excited to meet this person. His brother surely said he was quiet and antisocial, but this stranger liked talking with Six enough to want to see him again! HA! That was a win for him! Now, he was curious about this new friend. The teen monkey stretched his ears, and used a new trick he'd learned.

If he listened hard enough, Six could hear things from the past. If he focused, he could learn more about this person. First thing he could hear, his new potential friend was a dragon. A dragon prince, to be more exact. The second thing he could hear, dragons controlled the rain. So that was why the dragon prince was going to ask his relatives to stop the rain. Those relatives were probably the cause of all these storms. The next thing he could hear was-

"Hey! Six!" Oh great. Bull Prince was here now. "What are you doing on the beach? I thought you hated the ocean!"

Six sighed. Dammit. He lost whatever distant sound he was listening to before. He turned around to face the large and loud teen. "The sand felt nice."

Bull Prince laughed. "Wow. You really are a weird one. You look like you rolled around in it, too. You're seriously going to need a bath later."

"Did you just come here to insult my hygiene, or was there a reason you came here to find me."

"Oh yeah! Check this out!" Bull Prince reach behind him and pulled out a bottle of something from who knows where. "I got this from my dad. This is, like, _ actual _ alcohol!"

"Aren't we both a little young for that?"

"Aren't you a little young to ruin the fun?" Bull Prince opened the bottle and held it out to the monkey. "Come ooooooon! Live a little!"

"No way!" Six pushed the bottle away. "I've accidentally had alcohol before! And it tasted terrible!" He walked around the big tall teen and marched right towards the trees. "I'm just gonna go take a nap somewhere. You've ruined the beach for me."

"Suit yourself, man!" Presumably, Bull Prince went on the down the whole bottle by himself. Six could faintly hear him moaned about wishing his friend was there to party it up with him. Geez. All he needed to do was wait a little longer. Six was annoyed at him. Whatever. He was going to take a nice nap.

It had been a while since he'd been to his special tree. Six wanted to see if he could still fit inside it. He listened around, just to be sure he wasn't being followed. This was still his most secret place. No one was there. Good. He came to The Tree after a short amount of time. He climbed up it's branches, and looked for the opening he knew was hidden under leaves and branches. He found it rather quickly.

The monkey could fit his legs in, but didn't try to fit the rest of himself in. He could already tell that he'd get stuck if he put his whole self in, and he couldn't have that now, could he? No problem. Six would just use this to hide things from now on. And the branches here hid him well enough. He could do... things. Something he'd been very curious about doing ever since he'd been told it's something teens his age get into.

It was something to experiment with, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. Now, he needed a cold bath. A quick one, too. He could hear distant rumbles of thunder, a telltale sign that it would rain later. Six would rather not be caught out in the rain while trying to bathe. Off he went to check his usual spot in the stream. Quiet, only knee deep, rock formations that hid him from anyone who may happen to walk by. Six was oddly good at finding good spots that practically no one went to.

He uncovered his arms last when stripping down for his bath. He could feel the dried blood sticking to his skin, fur, even his bracelets and gauntlets. Six already knew how much of a pain it'd be to wash it all out. Not to mention his mess from what he did in the tree. Oh, he definitely needed this bath. Six scrubbed and scratched at his fur. He made made sure to get rid of anything sticking to his fur before getting out.

By the time his bath was done, the storm clouds were much closer. It'd start raining soon. It'd pick up fast and suddenly, if any of the last storms were anything to go by. Six shook the excess water off, quickly put his clothes back on, then ran back home. Grandpa and the remaining Generals were extra worried about people staying outside during a storm. They'd start worrying about where he is as soon as it started sprinkling raindrops.

A bit away from where anyone could seem him, Six slowed down. His brother was on his way back. His brother was coming home again. His brother had a new name and probably learned a lot of things. What had Six learned over the past year? He learned how to hide from everyone, how to listen hard and carefully, how get away with stealing a knife, how to hide self-inflicted cuts so absolutely no one could see them. Master tried to teach him this trick of draining the life from plants and using it for your own power. _ Tried. _

His brother was going to one-up him again, wasn't he? His brother was going to show off, and everyone was going to ignore and forget Six again. They won't ask him where he'd sneaked off to all day. They won't try to convince him to share some stolen alcohol. Six won't get to sleep by himself. No deafening silence at night. Wait... why was this a bad thing? He always hated sleeping alone at night. His brother always comforted him during storms when they were younger. It could be the same now, couldn't it?

A drop of rain hit his nose. Oh. It was starting to rain already. Six shook his head to get the last of those thoughts out of his head. Best not to think of that for now. He could here Jade Rabbit looking for him. "Six! Six Ear, if you fell asleep in a weird place again, I swear!"

"What would you do about it?" Six asked, emerging from the bushes. "Are you gonna go back to the moon and stay there this time?"

She huffed. "Don't tempt me! I just might!"

Six laughed and walked past her to home. "You won't. If you left forever, you'd never get to see my brother again." Thanks to his trick of listening to the past, he knew Jade at least used to have a bit of a crush on his brother. Did she still? Who knew! "Won't that make you sad? What would you do if he came back while you were gone forever?"

The rabbit girl crossed her arms and stuck her nose up. "Then I'll just figure out where he is now and tell him you annoyed me away for all eternity!"

Six turned around and walked backwards. "Oh, I don't think I'd be so skilled! At most, I think I'd be capable of scaring you away for the rest of my life! If I died, you'd come back here."

"Don't count on it!" She followed him into the caves. "Are you going to say where you were this time?"

"I was taking a bath. What would you do with the knowledge of where I bathe?" The monkey could clearly see the blush on her pale face. "Gee, I'm flattered, but also really _ really _ not interested."

"Not in ten thousand years!" She shouted. "And what do you even mean by that! Is that an insult?"

"Since when is it an insult to not be attracted to people? I'm just being honest." Six turned back around to watch where he was going. He listened to the rain picking up outside. Another storm. He honestly didn't expect much less.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: child abuse in the beginning of this chapter

> **This highway lived in my mind**

His brother was home.Home after only a year, two months, and eleven days. His brother has home with a new name for himself, and a new name to sure. Six didn't understand to purpose of a new name. This "surname" thing was nice, though. If his brother's name was Sun Wukong, then he supposed his own name would be Sun Six Ear. Maybe it wasn't a name that would translate well, but he liked the sound.

Master hardly seemed happy Wukong was home. "He's only going to try and up stage you," he said. "You haven't learned as quickly as I'd hoped. You will surely look even _ weaker _ than you did before!"

"Is... is it truly such a bad thing for him to be home?" Six's voice was meek, but clearly still heard. Master's eyes were filled with fire. "I... I was just unnoticeable before. They didn't exactly see me as-"

"Were you not taught when it is proper to speak?" Six felt a surge of pain run through him, electric and burning. Punishment. "You truly think you simply weren't noticed? You were _ ignored _ . I have lived for many years. More years than that old man you call your grandfather. I know weakness when I see it. I know what _ pity _ looks like." More pain.

"F-forgive me-"

"YOU MAY NOT SPEAK YET!"

Six clamped his mouth shut. How stupid of him to think it was his turn to speak. At this rate, there would be no time for a lesson. Only punishment. He didn't blame Master for this. Without a teacher willing to punish him, he believed he'd never learn respect and discipline. The Generals were strict, too, but not strict enough, clearly. Master had to be the best teacher for the teen monkey.

"Siiiiix!" His brother called for him. "Hey! Six! Brother! Where did you go?"

Six had to leave Master early for the day. Wukong absolutely could NOT grow suspicious. He was a clever one, and curious, too. The teen monkey would stuck his nose places it didn't belong, as long as it so much as lightly touched his interest. "I can hear you just fine without you shouting!"

Wukong jumped and turned around. He beamed. "There you are! Come on! Come on!" he grabbed onto his brother's arm and dragged him off. "One of the friends I made while away is here! I want you to meet him!"

"Oh, how wonderful and exciting. A..." _ A friend made to replace us while you were gone, _ was what he was going to say. But then Six remembered that young dragon he met on the beach. He didn't want to say such a rude thing about him. He was nice, and it seemed he wasn't there just because of Wukong. "Who is it? This... friend."

"You're gonna like him, I think! His hair is all soft and smooth and shiny! He's all calm, and quiet like you are! OOH! And! And-" Wukong rambled on and on. Six listened, half amused. He could tell it was the same boy he met on the beach. He'd been wondering when the dragon would give him that promised proper introduction. "He's already getting along well with Jade Rabbit! Don't know about Bull Prince, though."

"I'm pretty sure you're the only one of us that actually gets along with him."

Wukong laughed. "Yeah. He's kinda an acquired taste. But I think at least liked him a little bit."

"I _ tolerate _ him. There is a difference, you know."

After a few more moments of walking, they made it to were the rest of their friends were waiting. There he was, in all his soft, shining, glimmering wonder. Six felt something... weird in his chest. He wasn't sure what it was. The dragon looked up and smiled at him. "Hello."

"Um, hi."

Wukong pushed his brother forward. "Ao Lie! This is my brother I was telling you about! Six Ear, this is my friend!"

The dragon prince held out his hand to shake Six's. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ao Lie. The third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea."

"I'm... the Six Eared Monkey. The only Six Eared Monkey..." Fuck, he didn't how to introduce himself. Surely, he'd been taught to do that before, right. "Um, yeah. Grandpa's the Monkey King... Great to meet you, for like, the first time ever." He awkwardly took Ao Lie's hand and shook it.

The dragon smiled at him again and winked. That meant he got it, right? "I've heard quite a bit about you."

"Oh. Um, which embarrassing stories did you hear?"

"Oh, come on!" Wukong elbowed his brother in the ribs. "I wouldn't do that!"

"So you say. And I didn't ask you."

His brother whined. Ao Lie laughed. Six got that weird feeling in his chest again. Was he getting sick? Oh no, he couldn't have that. Master wouldn't like that. Wukong excitedly showed Ao Lie around. He introduced the dragon to any familiar face. Six found himself trailing allow after them. Why? He didn't know. He just couldn't make himself leave the two of them.

Wukong wanted to throw a party that night, just for the teens. Bull Prince suggested inviting a bunch of his demon and spirit friends. Of course the Generals had a problem with that. Teens left to their own, to party as wild as they wanted to? That was bound to lead to disaster. Of course, Wukong's response to this was try to plan a secret party anyway.

Six only agreed to go because Ao Lie agreed to go. Jade Rabbit said she'd be there, too. "Just to keep an eye on all of you!" she said. "At least someone responsible needs to be involved!"

The party started just before the sun set. The sky was a vibrant orange and warm red. It started out smoothly enough. Just the two monkey princes, Jade Rabbit, and Ao Lie hanging out and having a conversation. But then... Bull Prince showed up with his "friends." Those guys brought chaos. Wukong didn't seem to mind being a part of the chaos, but Six preferred to just watch.

He sat up in a tree. It had a good view of the party while maintaining a good enough distance. It was also a good vantage point to check for unexpected party crashers. Or rather, he was on the lookout for when one of the Generals inevitably came to put a stop to this party. Six really hoped this kind of party thing didn't become the norm.

"You're not one for parties, are you?" Ao Lie climbed up the tree Six was sitting in. The only good and sturdy place for him to sit was right next to Six. The monkey didn't really mind. Monkeys were naturally affectionate creatures, even if he could be the least affectionate of them. "You talk a lot less than your brother."

"He's the chatty one."

"That makes you a good listener."

Six laughed. "Because I don't talk much? You sure it's not the extra ears?"

Ao Lie was silent for a moment. "Okay, maybe that helps. But not talking helps, too. It's a lot harder to listen if you're always talking."

"That's... pretty wise."

"Thank you." The two boys sat in silence for several minutes. It was a comfortable silence. The only noise either of them made was the occasional laugh at something stupid happening at the party. Six thought that maybe if was a good time to show off.

"I can hear things pretty far away. Did you know?"

Ao Lie perked up. "Really? How far? What can you hear?"

Six smiled. He twitched his ears. "I can hear Grandpa pacing and muttering in his room. He's usually sleeping by now."

"What else?"

"The Generals are trying to convince him we threw the party anyway." He frowned. "I... think they might have figured out where we are."

"Oh." Ao Lie twiddled his fingers. He looked out to the party. Everyone was much too absorbed to the festivities to be warned of anything.

"Hey, um..." The point of him sitting here was to run off as soon as he heard any of the Generals coming. But now, he didn't want to ditch his dragon friend. "If you're worried... how about we leave?"

Ao Lie stared at him. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah! I can show you all the spots I like to hang out."

"And it won't be a problem if we don't talk about it."

After a few moments of consideration, Ao Lie agreed. At the end of the night, they were the only teens who didn't get in trouble.


	8. Chapter 8

> **It takes me back to the place that made me**

"Hey!" Wukong waved a hand in front of the other's face. "Hey Six?"

Six groaned internally. He was enjoying lounging in the shade of a tree. "What? Do you need something?"

His brother held up his hands defensively. "I just wanted to talk!"

"You have friends for that, don't you?"

Wukong whined and pouted. Six hoped he'd just leave and bother someone else. instead, he sat down next to his brother anyway. Seriously? He was acting like A child! Some brat that  _ didn't _ spend over a year away from home, trying to learn how to be immortal. "I wanted to ask YOU something. I meant to ask this earlier. Where did the fourth General go?"

"You know, you could ask the Generals yourself. Or even Grandpa could tell you."

"Oh, come on!" Wukong poked him in the cheek. Six swat his hand away. "I wanted to ask  _ YOU! _ Why is that such a problem? I haven't got to talk to you since i got back! Not like we used to."

"Fine! Fine," Six sighed. "No one really knows. He went out during one of the storms. He never came back, and no one could find him after almost a month of searching." He shrugged. "Everyone's pretty sure he's dead."

"Oh..."

"Yep."

Conversations between the two brothers were strained as of late. Spending over a year miles apart would do that. Epecially when they were both at the start of their teens. One was used to going off to be by himself, and the other was used to spending time with non-monkey friends. These things happened all the time. People change and grow apart. That was just how life worked.

Wukong spoke up again. "Before I found a teacher, someone confused me for a girl."

Six blinked. He couldn't have possibly have heard that right. "What was that?"

"This human woman was insistent that I was a young girl wearing dirty men's clothes because it was all that I could afford."

Six furrowed his brows. "No. There is no way. That makes no sense!"

Wukong nodded and smirked. He must have been proud to get more of a response out of his brother. "It's true! I was disguised as a human, and I was having trouble with that bleeding that happens every so often. She was really helpful with that stuff!" He picked a leaf up off the ground and absentmindedly ripped it apart as he talked. "But then she start talking about getting me some 'nice clothes proper for a young girl like you.'"

The other monkey sat up. "Did you tell her you weren't?"

"Of course I did!" Wukong threw the ripped leaf parts into the air. "She just stared at me and said, 'Oh, you don't have to pretend anymore! We're gonna take good care of you!' Then she said some shit about raising me to be her younger brother's wife or something."

Six was genuinely confused. "Why? Why would that even happen? Are you making this up?"

"You haven't met humans! A lot of them, at least that I came across, were like that."

"Would  _ I _ get called a girl if I met a human?" He hated the thought of that. Someone insisting you were something you were absolutely not.

"No. Not really. You don't have the kind of body that would bleed like mine." Wukong picked up another leaf to rip apart. "They think one's body defines them way more than it should. They'd call me a girl and Jade a boy. They also think that women and men have a lot more rules that they're supposed to follow. It's all really dumb, and even my teacher agreed it was wrong."

Six shook his head. "I'm never going near humans. Too crazy."

Wukong laughed. "I'm glad I'm not the only one!"

"Wait, if you're supposed to be immortal now, are you forever in the middle of puberty?"

Wukong laughed and shuddered. "Thankfully, no. My teacher told me I won't even age  _ slowly _ until after that."

"Hey, you two!" Ah, Jade Rabbit. Of course. "What are you two talking about?"

"Humans."

"Puberty."

Six turned to stare at his brother. "Really?"

"Yeah! You can't tell me puberty wasn't a part of the conversation!"

"Well... Okay. You have a point there, but still. We were more talking about humans being weird about it."

Jade groaned. "I don't think I want to know the context."

"No, no! I was saying some humans thought I was a girl and it was really weird."

Wait, some? Did that mean more than just the one woman called Wukong a girl. Wait, of course it would have happened more than once. He wouldn't have figured it was "a human thing" if it only happened once. Jade Rabbit let out a long sigh. "Oh, do I know that feeling! I've stopped counting the humans trying to call me a man!"

Six's jaw was agape. That was more unbelievable than anyone calling Wukong a girl! What was wrong with humans? "What is it about humans that makes them so stupid?"

Jade laughed. "Some of them aren't so stupid, some of them are stupid but in different ways, you know?"

He  _ didn't _ know. Humans sounded confusing and weird. Six crossed him arms and leaned back against the tree again. "I feel less and less bad about being scared to leave here."

"Psh!" Wukong playfully shoved his shoulder. "It's really not  _ THAT _ bad out there! Some of them are  _ really _ fun!" He went on and on about different humans he'd befriended. He could go on for as long as he wanted. Six was still set on never leaving home, for as long as he lived and breathed. Why would he ever need to leave, anyway? Everything he'd ever need were right here! Food, family, and at least one good friend in Ao Lie. There wouldn't ever be a reason to leave, as far as he could see.

"Hey, Wukong," Six called to get his attention. It was time to change the subject. "You're birthday is coming up soon, right?"

The other monkey beamed. "It is?"

Jade Rabbit laughed playfully. "Did you forget when you birthday was?"

"What? No!" Wukong crossed his arms. "Who forgets their own birthday?"

The rabbit girl smirked. "Six Ear did."

"It was one time! Just once!" He felt his face flush with embarrassment. He was too distracted back then! He had plenty of other things to worry about! Jade and Wukong just laughed. Six himself couldn't help but at least smile. This felt like how things used to be. Almost.

He would not be fooled. Things would never be like they used to be. They were older. They were different. They couldn't be as close as they used to be. That was the way things were now. That was how life worked.


	9. Chapter 9

> **You cannot out run a ghost.**

He had to get rid of his knife. It wasn't supposed to be his in the first place. Six  _ stole _ it, after all. Of course, the missing knife was long forgotten by now, if it was ever even noticed in the first place. Even so, it was so much of a risk to keep holding onto the knife.

Wukong was sharing a room with him again. His brother was yet another person trying to stick his nose into Six's personal secrets. Wukong was observant and clever, when he wanted to be. He was also fast with that Somersault Cloud of his. He could search the entire island by himself in the same amount of time the rest of the kingdom could together, and he would do thrice a thorough job as anyone else.

And then there was Ao Lie. Something about the young dragon prince put an odd feeling in the monkey's chest. It made Six want to be better than he was. He didn't think it was likely Ao Lie would ever find out about his little bad habit. But still, Six imagined what it would be like if he  _ did _ find out. Would he be disappointed? Disgusted? Sad? Angry? He didn't want to know.

Six tried to throw the knife away. More than once, he tried. Throwing it over cliffs. Tossing it in the fire. He even tried putting it back in the armory. Every time, the teen monkey couldn't go through with it. Why couldn't he just get rid of the knife? Why couldn't he just give up this stupid habit? It was destructive. Dangerous. So why did he have to get so addicted to it?

The knife kept him sane. It helped him keep his cool with all that was happening. Grandpa was old. Far past his prime. He would die. The Old King was now in his final years. The thought made Six sick to his stomach. He didn't want to lose his grandfather. The man who found him and took him in when no one else would. He wouldn't know how he could ever live in a world without the Old Monkey King.

Then there were Master's lessons. Master had been tougher on him. It was Six's own fault. He'd been to selfish, lazy, and distracted. The teen should have worked harder. Master only wanted him to be the best that he could be. He was an amazing teacher, and Six was a terrible student. He should be able to do more than just a few simple spells and his listening tricks. The monkey teen just needed to try harder, but all the hard work was making him stressed.

Six's birthday was coming up soon. He would be turning fifteen. He was almost a man. A real adult wouldn't be so messed up. The monkey teen had to pull everything together and work it all out. Why was that so hard? It shouldn't be so hard! Wukong was doing better than he was! He'd definitely make a better king some day than the other brother would ever dream to be.

Even though he didn't say the thought out loud, Six slapped a hand over his mouth. He couldn't think like that. Master would be mad if he ever heard that! There would be punishment for thoughts like that. Master was training him to be the greatest monkey king this land had ever seen! It was ungrateful of him to just decide to throw away all that work just because he didn't want to be king anymore!

Six shook his head. He had to focus on something else.  _ ANYTHING  _ else. His birthday. Wukong wanted to throw a party for him. He wanted to make up for missing the last two birthdays. Six didn't want a real big party. Big parties were too loud and crowded. His sensitive ears hated the noise. His brother is so insistent on doing at least  _ something _ for him. Eventually, Six agreed to a small party. Just their friends and Grandpa. Maybe the Generals, too, if they were so wished.

There were positives to this plan. While Wukong prepared the small party, Six got to go out by himself and spend as much time alone as he cared to. Master didn't have lessons for him today, either. This was a good thing. Or it should be. It was far too tempting to pull out his knife and use it on himself. That was what he usually did when allowed to be by himself like this. He knew it would just be far too tempting, so he left the knife hidden under his pillow back home while he went out.

Six felt anxious and restless. He had been moving from secret spot to secret spot for the past hour. At the moment, he was on the beach. The monkey teen hoped the sand under his feet would distract him well enough. Maybe he'd run into Ao Lie on his way back from visiting his relatives. The thought of the dragon made Six's chest feel all light and bubbly. What even was this feeling? Could it me...

The monkey teen shook those thoughts out of his head. No no no. He couldn't! He...  _ He didn't have a crush, did he? _

"Six?"

He jumped. Six looked over and saw the very dragon prince he was thinking about standing right there, a bag in his hands. He tried to look normal, and not like he was just startled out of contemplating if he had a crush. "Oh, uh, hey there, Ao Lie. I didn't see you there."

Ao Lie smiled. "Well, you must have been deep in thought. Should I wish you 'Happy Birthday' now, or should I wait for the party?"

Six shrugged. "Whichever one you want. It doesn't matter to me that much."

"Well then..." The dragon prince stepped closer pat him on the shoulder. "Happy Birthday!"

The monkey teen felt his heart hammer in his chest.  _ Nope! No no!  _ Six smiled back at him, even though all he could probably manage was a dorky looking one. "Thank you."

Ao Lie had this really sweet smile. Six was probably just seeing things, but it just looked so incredibly sweet. "We should go to the party now, right? This is about the time Wukong told me to show up."

"Sure, I guess." Six hadn't checked in on how the party set up was going. He had no idea if everything was ready for him yet. But if Ao Lie was here now, then Six would be more than happy to walk with him to the party. "Let's go."

The two teen boys walked back towards home. They were silent for the first few minutes. Six wasn't in to much of a hurry to get to the party, but he would have definitely picked up his pace if the dragon so wished. Ao Lie walked semi slowly. Maybe he was trying to buy extra time for those setting up, just in case. Whatever the reason was, it felt nice to be alone with him. It was just...  _ nice. _

"Is there a gift you're excited to get?"

Six furrowed his brow and scratched his chin. "I... I don't know... I don't normally think about the thing I want. Not, like, phyical things people can give, anyway."

"Then what kind of things DO you want?"

He shrugged. He couldn't just completely, honestly answer that. That was too deep, emotional, and personal. Maybe he could make it vague? "I don't know. I'd like to get over some fears. I'd like for Grandpa to live a really long life. And, uh..." Six scratched the back of his head. "I don't know! I... hanging out with you is pretty cool..." He didn't look at Ao Lie. He  _ couldn't _ look at him. That was just way too sappy!

"That is really sweet of you!" The monkey's face flushed more. "I like spending time with you, too!"  _ DAMMIT THAT MADE IT WORSE!!! _

Six glanced at his dragon friend. Ao Lie wasn't quite looking at him, but he was smiling. The monkey didn't think he'd seen that smile on him before. It was... lovely. So very, very lovely. Six wondered why he didn't smile like that more often. The two of them didn't say anything for a while. Silence tended to be comfortable between them. It wasn't too much longer until they made it home.

The party wasn't as bad as Six expected. Including himself and Ao Lie, there were just six people there. Bull Prince, Jade Rabbit, Wukong, and Grandpa. They brought simple gifts. A cloak. A shirt. Other types of clothes. They were nice enough, but not too elegant. Exactly to his liking.

Ao Lie's gift was his favorite. It was a simple, lovely, seashell necklace. "Handmade," he'd said. the dragon prince had made it himself. Six tried it on right away. It was nice. Durable. And Ao Lie made it for him. And Wukong looked at least a little jealous about it. Oh, he was never taking this off. Not for as long as he lived and breathed.

The party finished with Grandpa telling stories. Sometimes, they were interjected by random coughs, but that was fine! He always did tell the best stories. He'd lived for so long, and had seen so many things. Six absolutely  _ loved _ the Old King's stories. He was right in the middle of a real good one. Then, a General came running in. Six couldn't stop himself from pouting. "King! Something has happened!"

"Oh?" Grandpa coughed. "What is it? What has happened?"

"It's-" The General eyed the teens present. "It's terrible! Just- just terrible! Come with me! We should discuss this-"

The Old King put a hand up. "They are not children anymore. Is it really so terrible that they should not hear?"

"Well... uh..." The General twiddled his fingers. Six quietly groaned. Seriously, at this point, he could find out what happened himself by listening far. The monkey teen closed his eyes and strained his ears. He listened backwards, starting from when the General first run in here. He came from the throne room first. He'd forgotten they were having a party that day. He'd just ran there from where he found... oh.

"One of the other Generals was found dead."


	10. Chapter 10

> **Speeding south bound lanes with abandon**

Another General dead. One would have thought the Old King would start chosing new Generals to replace them. Maybe he should have. But he didn't. He said it was beause "No one can quite replace them." That wasn't the only one. Six knew. Grandpa knew his days were numbered.

He tried not to think about it. There were other things to focus on. For one thing, there was the one who killed the General: the Montrous King of Havoc. The demon king had been tormented their small kingdom for decades. He had been oddly quiet over the last few years. _Maybe he killed the other General during the storms, _some thought. _Maybe he'll kill off more of us monkeys,_ some feared.

Wukong looked incredibly irritated by all the gossip and worrying. He looked like he would snap at anyone who so much as breathed on him. "Brother," Six tried about a week or so later, "If you keep that up, your face is going to freeze like that."

"THAT'S IT!" Wukong threw his hands up. Six fell backwords. "I'M GONNA KILL THE GUY!"

"What guy?"

"That Monstros King of Whatever Shit!" The monkey teen stood up and stormed towards the exit of their room. "I can't get anything out of my head about all the worrying things! Things aren't fun anymore with everone scared! So I'm gonna do something about it!"

"Wukong..." Six sighed. "You are aware that it's the middle of the night, right?"

"Exactly!" His brother left the room completely, but he could still here a faint, "He won't see me coming."

Six sighed and leaned back in his bedding. He decided he might as well listen to his brother as he went off to do whatever. He listened to the monkey race off with his Somersault Cloud. Wukong searched through the jungles for that demon king's lair. It didn't take him long to find, of course. And, of course, the demon minions were quickly alerted to the teen monkey's pressence.

Wukong took them down, one by one. He yelled for the Monstrous King of Havoc to come out and face him like a man. The beast laughed. This was just a kid! What made him think he could take down a "mighty demon king" like him! The demon king recognized him, then. He recognized Wukong as one of the Old Monkey King's grandchildren.

_"What, have you come to try and prove yourself? Have you come to try to prove yourself worthy as your grandfather's successor?" _The Monstrous King of Havoc laughed._ "I will tell you this: I will let you try to fight me. I'll even put my armor and weopon down, since you have none."_

Wukong, of course, couldn't be beaten by the monster. The beast tried to quickly pick his armor and weapon up again. The young monkey snatched the weapon out of his hands and defeated him with a single blow. The Monstrous King of Havoc was dead.

Six opened his eyes and pulled himself back to his room where he was now. Dead. The demon king, their enemy for as long as he could remember, was dead. It... it was strange. Maybe he was dreaming? It sure felt like coming out of some sort of trance when he stopped listening. He could have been imagining it. Maybe Wukong was captured. If that was the case, Six was going to go back to sleep and tell everyone about this in the morning. He was just too tired for this.

The next morning, though he would hardly call it morning, Six woke up again. He could hear a bit of comotion outside. He listened from his bedding to figure out what was going on. He heard... cheering? Yeah, that was cheering. Monkeys were cheering for... Wukong?

_"Six Ear."_

Six sat straight up. That was Master's voice. Thankfully, it didn't sound at all like it was among the cheering monkeys, but it still felt odd to hear. There wasn't supposed to be training today. At least, not that he remembered.

_"Come here, Six Ear."_

He would never get away with ignoring such a direct call from Master. Quickly, Six got out of bed and snuck away. He carefully avoided cheering and celebrating monkeys. What he heard last night must have been true. Wukong killed the Monstrous King of Havoc. Six should be expected to join in on the celebrating. Why didn't anyone come to wake him up?

_"Where are you, Six Ear?"_

Master's call could not be ignored. Six ran to the usual meeting place. Master was their, waiting with a disaproving stare. The student kneeled before him as was usual. There was silence for a tense moment. Then, the Master spoke. "Six Ear. I trust you are fully of the demon known as The Monstrous King of Havoc."

Six clenched his fists in the dirt, but said nothing. _It was bad._

"You are aware, he was had a rivalry with your grandfather, for far longer than you have even been alive."

He knew from that tone. Punishment would be coming soon. He prayed that it would be quick.

"To defeat him would be rather remarkable. The creatures of your small kingdom would praise such a hero for generations to come."

Silcence. Six hated silence. _Why couldn't this be over sooner?_

"Please tell me, Six Ear, what has happened to the Monstrous King of Havoc now?"

"He... he is dead."

"Hm... yes." Six expected _something_ then. A jolt of electricity. A blow to the head. A kick in the side. But there was still nothing. _Where was Punishment?_ "And you know how he died, yes? Please tell me. How did the demon king die? Who killed him?"

Six swallowed a lump in his throat. The last thing he wanted was to choak on his words. "He was killed by Sun Wukong."

"That's right. Now, I am certain you understand how _bad_ this will be for you?"

He nodded. No words. Words would have failed him.

"Your brother will be remembered. Your brother is seen as a hero. And you." A pause. "Who are you? What are you to them? Who on this island would ever favor _YOU_ over your brother? _Tell me. Quickly."_

He only had seconds to answer. Six spoke without thinking. "A-ao Lie."

Master blinked. "Ao Lie? The third son of the Dragon King of the Easter Sea? Your brother's classmate?"

Tears pricked at Six's eyes. He fought to keep them from falling. Those tears had no reason to be there.

"Explain to me. What is it about you that would be so valuable to him?"

"I... I'm quiet. I listen well. We... we can sit together in silence for almost an hour, without awkwardness or discomfort." _More. There had to be more._ "He... he cares about me..."

"And nothing else?"

He hurt. He hurt from a pain that couldn't be caused by any punishment the Master could give him.

"These are all hopes caused by the _feelings_ you hold for the young prince. Are you certain that your brother does not also hold feelings for the young dragon prince?"

Six felt like he could throw up. Another way for his brother to beat him.

"Leave now."

_What?_ Six wasn't sure he heard that right. Leave?

"Leave me be! I need to consider how to fix this!"

The monkey teen scrambled to his feet and left quickly. There was no punishment. Why? Shouldn't there have been? It didn't make sense. Maybe... maybe there was an especially terrible punishment waiting for him? Six shuddered at the thought. That had to be it. He might as well sstop worrying until the time came. He should worry about something else.

_Are you certain that your brother does not also hold feelings for the young dragon prince?_

Of course, Wukong would have a crush on Ao Lie. He had a lot of crushes. That happened at times. But what did that matter, really? Did that really have anything to do with _Ao Lie's_ feelings? Six saw himself as having a chance at this. If he ever had a chance at anything, it would be in the pursuit of _something_ with Ao Lie. Maybe. Eventually. He had no interest in rushing anything. It would be fine.


	11. Chapter 11

> **It catches you on the coast**

Ao Lie had a bit of a routine. Not quite a solid one, but still a routine. Six learned it so he wouldn't ever be a bother to the young dragon. In hind sight, it sounded creepy. As though he was plotting or scheming to make Ao Lie his. It honestly wasn't the case. For one thing, Six hated the idea of owning someone. For another thing, he honest to heavens loathed being where he was unwanted.

The young dragon prince spent the late mornings on the beach, usually. Usually, it was to return after visiting with his relatives in the sea. Other times, it looked like he just enjoyed being on the beach. Six was almost always on the beach waiting for him, trying his best to look casual. Ao Lie always smiled when he saw the monkey teen there. Six took great pride in being a cause of such a smile.

Often times, they sat in the sand, mostly in silence. Whenever one had a random interesting thought come to mind, it would be shared. Maybe it would spark a conversation. The important thing was: it didn't need to.

"Have you ever tried flying?" Ao Lie suggested.

"Like, in the air?"

"Where else would you fly?" The young dragon chuckled.

Six laughed. "That's a good point." He stared up at the white, fluffy clouds. "Nope. Monkey's aren't known for their skills of flight."

Ao Lie laughed. He had such a nice laugh. "Well, would you like to try flying? I could carry you on my back!"

He stared at the other boy. Sure, the dragon was a bit taller, but he was so skinny! "Are you sure you'd be able to carry me?"

Ao Lie nodded. "Don't worry! All I need to do is transform, and we can fly off!"

Six shrugged. "Sure. I don't see how it could go wrong."

Oh, it could go very wrong. Ao Lie decided a good place to take him flying was right over the ocean. Six was still working on that fear, and he didn't think flying miles above deep ocean helped with it. He didn't want his crush to know. But, despite his best efforts, he was certain Ao Lie figured it out. Six clung on so desperately. They were in the air for five minutes at most. The dragon landed down on a cliff facing the water. "Are you okay? I didn't think you'd-"

"I'm fine! I... I'm fine..." They sat in silence for a few moments. "I... I'm not afraid of heights, if you were wondering. I... sorry."

Ao Lie gave him an odd look. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I... I don't know." Six scratched the back of his head. "You were just trying to be nice. I was the one who freaked out."

The dragon stared at him. "Do you usually do that?"

"What, freak out midair? No. Absolutely not."

"No! I mean..." Ao Lie sighed and looked away. "I... I think that people apologize for odd things, sometimes. And usually, it will be because someone tends to get mad at them for odd things.

For a moment, the monkey thought of telling the other boy about Master. "Oh." He couldn't say anything more than that. He didn't need to. That was the thing with Ao Lie and Six Ear. They could sit in silence together comfortably. Being in each other's presence was enough.

"So," Ao Lie spoke after several minutes, "You are afraid of water?"

"Well..." He sighed. "Only if it's deep enough. I..." He couldn't believe he was actually admitting this. "I'm not sure what it is. I've heard I was first found washed up on the beach. So, uh... yeah."

The dragon teen nodded, as though he understood completely. "So the sea holds bad memories for you."

Six shrugged. "Yeah. I guess it does."

"But then why do you enjoy the beach so much? I often find you there."

He felt his face burn. "It's... it's a really dumb reason. Seriously. It's laughable."

"I won't make you try to explain yourself if it embarrasses you so." Ao Lie drummed his fingers on his thigh. A smile spread across his face. "Since you will likely never visit any kingdoms in the sea, you will never have to worry about meeting my mother. She is simply too much for most people to handle."

"Are you sure?" Six puffed out his chest. "I can handle a lot more than you'd expect."

"I mean it!" He poked Six in the shoulder. "She'd constantly criticize both of us! And you may have to sit through her insisting I find a girl to marry someday."

Both of them shuddered. Neither of them were really into girls. Something both of them had in common. Six wouldn't dare so much as dream of telling anyone else of that. Not even Master. It was one thing for him to suspect the monkey teen had a liking for boys. It would be a completely different thing for him to know Six lacked any interest in girls.

"Hey, Six?"

"Yeah?"

"I like this place. I like staying here with all of you guys."

Six's heart hammered against his ribs. _I like you staying here, too, _he almost said. "Then don't ever leave. You're one of the best people to hang out with."

Ao Lie laughed. _Heavens what a laugh._ "It... it would be nice, yes. But my family will make me go home eventually."

"I'm pretty sure my brother would tell you to make _us_ your family, but that would mean either adopting you or one of us marrying you." Six laughed. "Honestly, I'm not sure about either of those."

Ao Lie laughed again, but louder than he did before. "Either one of those would upset my parents. Father may actually declare war!"

"Then Let us be glad my brother isn't a part of this conversation. Heavens know he wouldn't care, and only get more motivated to do something foolish."

"I don't know..." The dragon teen hummed. He had a lovely smile on his face. "Maybe if he got a hold of Bull Prince's contraband alcohol..."

Six snorted. He could imagine it. The dragon king would come, fancy and regal, demanding his son back. Wukong would just stumble out, spilling a half empty cup of wine, and scream 'FUCK YOU MAN!' Six laughed so hard at the thought, his eyes started to water. It took him a minute to fully stop. It'd... it'd been a while since he laughed that hard. It was nice to laugh again.

"Yeah... yeah, it might not end well."

"It's still nice to imagine, though."

They sat in silence again. Six wished time could stop right here. If it could, things would be absolutely perfect. But, of course, the moment just had to be ruined. "Hey! Six, Ao Lie, is that you two up there?"

Six sighed. Oh good. His brother was here now. He was ready to just ignore him, but Ao Lie spoke. "Yeah. It's us."

Wukong climbed up to where the two boys were sitting. "I was wondering where you two went! I had something to ask you! Uh, just you! Sorry Six!"

Six waved him off. "Fine, fine. We can hang out again later."

Ao Lie stood up. "I'll came back. Promise." He ran off with the other monkey prince. Six listened to them even after they were out of sight. Even though they left for the sake of privacy, he still listened. Master told him to always be listen, no matter what. The two went far away enough for Six not to passively overhear. He had to focus in to actually hear them_._

_ "So, what was it you wanted to ask?"_ _   
_

_"I, um, just..." _Wukong sighed. _"Do you think the East Dragon King has cool weapons?"_

_"Pft! Is that all? You couldn't ask this in front of Six?"  
_

_"Well... I just..." _It wasn't what he originally wanted to ask. He was going to confess his feeling to the young dragon. Something stopped him. Maybe he wasn't really so confident and impulsive._ "Look. All of the weapons we have here are too light for me! I need a good weapon if I'm going to defend everyone here!"_

Six scoffed. He couldn't speak for everyone else, but _he_ didn't need to be defended!

_"I_ _ mean... My uncle might have something you could use. I don't know if he'd let you have any of it, though."_

_"Then you'll just have to come with me! He'll surely let me have the perfect weapon if you're there with me!"_

_"I, uh..."_ There was clear uncertainty in Ao Lie's voice. Six silently begged him to say no. Just say no and come back to Six, and the two of them could go back to that moment. _"Sure! It won't be too bad, I'm sure!"_

"Noo..." The monkey whined quietly. "Dammit!"

"Six Ear!"

He tuned out of the distant conversation and turned his attention to the General running up to him. "What? What is it?"

"Where is your brother?"

_Again, with his brother! _"I don't know!" He spat out. "He ran off somewhere! What do you need him for?"

"It's not just him we need! We need both of you! It's the King! He isn't doing so well, and-"

Six ran before he could finish his sentence. No. No, no, not Grandpa! It's too soon! Not now! _Please!_ He ran past anyone trying to stop him, and went straight for Grandpa's room. Jade Rabbit was there, but Six didn't care _what_ she was doing. All he cared about was the old man there, coughing into his sleeve. "Gr... Grandpa?"

The old man looked up and smiled at him, but he was so obviously weak. "Six Ear! It's you! Where is your brother?"

"He's..." At the bottom of the ocean, likely. But that would sound so terrible out loud. "I don't know. But... but I'm here!"

"Yes, you are! And I'm am very happy for that!" Grandpa gestured for him to come closer, and he did. "You can leave Jade Rabbit. For a few moments, alright?"

Six couldn't care less about whether or not she left. He knelt down at Grandpa's side. "Grandpa... are... are you going to be okay?"

Grandpa pet his head. "Why are you so upset? Please, do not be upset."

"But... but I..." No. He couldn't confess his weakness. What would Master say?

Grandpa smiled at him. Somehow, he could tell exactly what was troubling the teen. He must have. "Six Ear. You remember my staff, right?"_  
_

Six blinked. "I... I do."

"Well then, I want you to have it."

"But... but you still need it! It helps you walk around!"

"It was meant to be used as more than just a walking cane. It's meant to be a weapon. A tool. I am too old now to use it as well as it's meant to be. But you. You are young. You are more than capable and clever enough."

Six knew what this was. This was Grandpa telling him his inheritance. Grandpa would probably be dead by the end of the day, and Wukong would be king.


End file.
